A less government conservative Republican from Livingston County, MI
Opinions on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Livingston County Republican Party.
Chairman of LCRP since January 2013

Sunday, December 30, 2012

I heard about this awhile back (although this all developed after the November election - and I was one of the early ones to know), but didn't get a chance to post due to time constraints along with being asked to keep it quiet because it wasn't a done deal when I first heard about it. Jay Drick will be resigning at the end of January to become the new county magistrate, and we'll be having a new county commissioner in the 5th District. From a political side, Jay will be missed, but I think he'll do a very good job as magistrate. He has the right temperament to be a judge and certainly knows the law. Those who argue in front of him better have their facts and law straight. Congratulations to Jay.

The 5th District covers the City of Howell, Howell Township, and Cohoctah.

2. The question is this. If Parker, or somebody else is appointed, when is the election? While County offices aren't usually voted on in odd number years, other offices are voted on in odd number years. It SOUNDS like the appointee will finish Jay's term unless it is interpreted that November of 2013 (and August 2013 primary) is going to have to have a special election for the position. I'm not sure when Parker was first appointed to county commission off of city council, although he was unopposed election time that year.

--------------------------------------

Updated and Edited 1-16

There's some conflicting statutes and I talked to a few people including Margaret Dunleavy and Joan Runyan. It looks like there will be an appointment next month, along with a primary and general in May and August. The filing deadline for a May primary is February 12th, so we need to be ready as soon as that special election is called.

This gives urban areas much more power. It doesn't help rural populations.

Vote fraud. Chicago and Milwaukee affects the country instead of Illinois and Wisconsin.

Recounts. How will recounts be conducted under
this. Instead of being confined to one state, it could go to hundreds of
cities in fifty different states with fifty different rules under the
NPV. It potentially creates a giant clustermuck with a capital "F".

Election rules. This will quasi-nationalize
elections. Michigan is in the process of cleaning things up with
elections with ID laws and such. If Ruth Johnson's reforms pass, what
will happen nationally with the NPV? It's a quasi national system and
will lead to quasi national election rules across the country. If this
goes national, what happens with this? Are we going to be forced by
SCOTUS to honor other state election laws in our own state with our own
elections, and be forced to toss our election laws?

There's a lot of bad consequences. I'm a little more intrigued by the third way and am open to this here in Michigan, although I have concerns about that as well.

Maine/Nebraska - This is where the state winner gets 2 electoral votes, and the winner of each congressional district gets another. Some want to bring that to Michigan. Five years ago, I'd be all for it. Now? Not sure. It's a hell of a gamble. Pros and Cons:

Pros:
After Presidential losses of 16 and 9pts, Michigan may soon be ignored. This would change it as several districts are close. This also limits Detroit's influence on the election as they self-pack. It would heavily focus on MI-01, MI-06, MI-07, MI-08, and MI-11. Maybe MI-03 and MI-04 in a bad year.

Cons:
It puts a lot of presidential election power in the hands of the state legislature and governor. While APOL limits gerrymandering to a degree, it's not 100% followed for federal districts (federal law conflict) and we could have nasty gerrymanders, especially if Voting Rights Districts are lifted. It also ignores districts like MI-02, MI-05, MI-09, MI-12, MI-13, and MI-14.

Wildcards:
Will Michigan go to a redistricting commission which puts these in the hands of bureaucrats not accountable to the people. (Commissions can be good or bad ie Mathis in Arizona). What will the districts be in 2021?

How will other states react? Could Texas do this? Indiana? Florida? Ohio? Would this lead to NPV instead? What will the unintended consequences be?

From a purely Livingston County, Michigan standpoint, this is a good thing. Overall, I'm not so sure. I prefer this to NPV, and prefer this to being hung out to dry by campaigns that publicly quit or make promised that aren't kept. It would be good for eight years, but what about the 10 years after that? I don't know, and that's my concern.

Here's a lesson for politicians who lose their balls (to put it bluntly) when things get tough on an issue. We have LONG memories on 2nd Amendment issues. The reason there was no "president Gore" was due to him becoming a gun grabber. 1994 was partially in response to Clinton's gun bans. Bill Clinton himself blamed the NRA and had a personal agenda since.

The
bill would have let concealed gun owners with additional permits carry
their weapons in places where it was previously illegal to carry them
such as places of worship, bars, schools, and stadiums."

The last thing Snyder needs right now is to be double-flanked. The unions want revenge and now gun owners are mad. Many conservatives who finally were happy at something Snyder did are now irked. Again. Now I don't think the NRA would support Whitmer or Peters against Snyder, but John Cherry? They might stay out against a Mark Schauer now that their records on this issue are about equal (can't count on although not Joe Schwarz/Whitmer bad). This veto needs to be overridden or sent back to Snyder's desk. No CPL reform. No bridge.

Pragmatically, what would the independents rather have in these criminal empowerment zones - conceal carry, or open carry by CPL holders? The latter is probably legal under a technicality. Politicians also have to remember that the opinions of the public that matter are not now, but 19 months from now. In addition, criminal empowerment zones don't stop criminals from shooting people.

Now comes John Boehner who is showing Peter Principle tendencies of his own. He's already doing a piss poor job with the fiscal negotiations (No mention of spending?) and I'm concerned he's going to sell us down the river. I got one question for Boehner. "Do you want to lose the house?" I don't want to see him lose the house, but I wouldn't mind seeing him lose as speaker either in a caucus vote, or a primary challenge. Anyone in the Cincy or Dayton suburbs/exurbs/rural areas outside there want to take him on? It's a safe district in the general election.

"We need to have a discussion about guns," the lawmaker said, relaying
Boehner's remarks, "and that doesn't mean that all of a sudden we
abandon the Second Amendment or the NRA [National Rifle Association] or
anything like that. But there needs to be a discussion and everybody
needs to participate and we need to depoliticize it."

Boehner, you're talking about our constitutional rights here. Do you understand that? We don't need any federal discussion beyond "national reciprocity" of concealed carry. Don't sell us out, or there will be grave political consequences. Democrats were taught that lesson twice. So were individual republicans at times. Lugar lost. Partly on this issue. Walt North and the guy before Mark Schauer (then state rep) lost over votes on either firearms or hunting. About the same comments on the level of Boehner came from dem Joe Manchin. When you two rush, you're wrong.

Obama loves his commissions and the noise they all make. Nothing like appointing a guy that voted to ban .30-30 ammunition (your grandfather's hunting round) as the head of that "task force." Joe Biden. From The Hill:

Earlier in the week, Obama conferred with Biden and other
top Cabinet officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, Education
Secretary Arne Duncan and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius.

"Their participation underscores the comprehensive way in which the president views this problem," Carney said.

The White House has indicated that in addition to supporting
an assault-weapons ban, the president will call for restrictions on
high-capacity ammunition clips and legislation that will close the
gun-show exception for background checks. But Obama is also expected to
examine mental-health programs and depictions of violence in
entertainment, including movies and video games.

Of course these bans NEVER apply to the police.... Eric Holder supports even a handgun ban except to police, military, political buddies, and Mexican drug cartels with Fast and Furious. Also, anyone who doesn't know the difference between a clip and a magazine needs to shut the Hell up about that issue due to ignorance. As for gun show exceptions for background checks, they don't exist. I bought a shotgun from a gun show. I went through the Federal NICS check. ALL dealers are required to perform NICS checks or similar/stricter checks on the state level.

This is the same old schiesse that the democrats pushed in 1994 and 1999. It would have done nothing to stop theses. As for so called "assault weapons", Connecticut banned them. Yes. Banned them. The motive here isn't to save lives, but for politicians to take our freedoms and gain more power, or for politicians to pat themselves on the back and say that they did something (while doing nothing that solves a problem).

As far as blaming movies and games, that's just as stupid as blaming the guns. How long have we had violence in entertainment? There's actually less school shootings today than there was. The difference today is the 24 hour news networks and the internet. Not just CNN, but also Fox and MSNBC. Violent movies. Go back to the old gangster films. Westerns. John Wayne. Clint Eastwood. Godfather in the 70's. Scarface and Arnold/Stallone/Die Hard movies in the 80's. Goodfellas in the 90's. This ain't new. Video Games. They've been violent at times since the early 90's. Mortal Kombat is over 20 years old. So is Wolfenstein. Doom isn't far beyond that. People who grew up on those games are now in their mid 30's or older.

What's the government going to push here, censorship? That's also freedom control. While I'd agree that either the movie or the game Scarface shouldn't be for kids, that's not the government's responsibility. That's a parent's responsibility. I'd trust parents more than government officials (including public school officials).

Right now we're on defense. The leftist media wants to blame us for all the bad people out there that shoot up schools. We need to be vigilant and think long term. We need to make sure politicians think long term - to election day. Those with us we need to thank and encourage to stay with us. Those against us need to be fired. When it comes to our constitutional rights, there is nothing to discuss. We do not need to give up our constitutional rights. Freedom control is unacceptable and those that partake in it need to pay with their jobs.

For the rest of us, buy magazines, scary looking firearms, .223 (which is really fairly low powered despite the media lies/ignorance), and .308 ammo today. Magazines especially, since I think if anything gets banned, it will be that. Buy a lot of them, and you might even make a profit on the black market if it goes. Remember how much "pre-bans" went for in 2003?

Monday, December 10, 2012

Despite being from a union family, I support Right to Work. More than anything else, it would once again help union leadership be forced to be accountable to its members which isn't the case in closed shop. Unions were needed in the 1930's. The union leadership sold out for good in the 1990's. They stopped advocating for workers in contracts and care more about going to the fancy cocktail parties and high society democrat leaders. The UAW caved on outsourcing in the 1990's in the GM strike. The unions endorsed all the democrats who supported NAFTA and GATT. All those Clintonites. Solidarity magazine these days is nothing more than a democrat party rag, even pushing cap and trade and Obamacare which is highly destructive to the auto industry. That doesn't even get to government unions which make Reuther look center-left.

Right to Work doesn't destroy unions. Those who want to join can still join. What union leadership needs to do it once again represent those workers they claim to represent. That means more time working on beneficial contracts and less time getting your arse kissed by politicians.

There's several lessons from this.

1. When you put all your eggs in one basket, you're asking for it when it doesn't succeed. As The Peter Principle in Chief Obama says, "I won". Unions - especially government unions (outside police which are bipartisan) - are a wholly owned subsidiary of the democrats. They went all in recently. The MEA led the charge against Paul Scott and for Prop 2. Prop 2 had a massive union turnout this year helping the democrats. Those scalps the unions did get in the state house came back to bite them in lame duck. The deciding votes were from losing/retiring state reps. Holly Hughes, Mark Ouimet, Rick Olson, Matt Huuki, and Kurt Damrow all left a parting gift on their way out the door.

2. What did Republicans have to lose? Not much. Statewide? Lost the presidency. So what. That doesn't mean a damn thing. Obama's not in charge here. He's a nobody. These are strictly Michigan matters, not US Government. Onward. Democrats cry gerrymandering, but in reality (state rep/senate) under APOL rules that limit municipal breaks, there's a limited amount that can't be done outside of Congressional. Most of the democrats in Michigan are self-packed. Detroit is 93-5 Democrat. Most of Oakland County's democrats are either in Pontiac or South of 13 mile and east of Haggerty. Most of Macomb County's democrats are South of 59. Other than that, Ann Arbor, Ypsi, Superior Twp, Pittsfield Twp, Scio Twp in Washtenaw County. Lansing, East Lansing, and Meridian Twp in Ingham County. Muskegon. Flint, Mt Morris, Davison, and Burton. Saginaw. Bay City. Grand Rapids (city). Marquette. Ironwood area. Mt Pleasant. Kalamazoo (City). Benton Harbor. Albion. Lesser extent Battle Creek, Port Huron, Adrian, and Jackson. Those districts outside of Jackson, Adrian, Port Huron, and Benton Harbor are dem. The exceptions are due to other Republican areas in that district. Battle Creek/Albion's district became solid dem with redistricting with other lean dem areas in it.

3. The old saying applies here. "If you are going to kill the king, you had best kill him." Scott Walker didn't go for Right to Work and the recall attempt happened anyway largely pushed by Wisconsin's MEA equivalent. It happened here too with Paul Scott. Scott lost, but his replacement was a Republican. Joe Graves. Then then pushed prop 2. From what I've heard, if the unions didn't push prop 2, Right to Work wouldn't have been considered. Prop 2 failed. The turnout damaged some republicans, but they didn't "kill the king".

Also, the goon squads are out in force. If being "tough guys" and harassing women (because they aren't man enough to do anything to a grown man without their posse), slashing tires, threats, and similar organized crime tactics is what they need to stay relevant, then they can go the way of the Gambino Crime Family as far as I'm concerned. They can perform unnatural acts on themselves. For those out of state thugs invading here (as well as ignorant thugs in state) Michigan has "Stand Your Ground" if your imminently threatened with death or great bodily harm BTW. Remember that son, in case you eff with the wrong people.

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

The democrats tripled their representation in Livingston County partisan offices, and it is in one of the least likely places - Howell Township. They gloated about it in the paper. They gloated about it because Republicans allowed it to happen

Caught looking. It's a baseball term I use. In politics, I use it when
someone gets lackadaisical, and gets defeated because the other side
outworks them. The person isn't paying attention to the tactics of the
other team or the situation and watches strike three go past them,
getting a bad out. "Caught napping" is another term often used. If you
hear me say that we were "caught looking," this is what I'm referring
to, right here.

I'm going to be hearing about this post from some unhappy people, most
of whom I consider friends, but the facts speak for themselves here. I
hope those people are unhappy reading this, and I'm unhappy about
writing this. It's a swift kick in our collective asses, and it is
needed. The first two words in our local Livingston County Republican
Party/Committee are "Livingston County." Those are the two most
important words in the name. It is where we live.

...

The biggest fubar was in Howell Township. Four trustee candidates have
filed. Two in each party. In addition, we KNEW there would be openings
there as Carolyn Henry is running for prosecutor, and gave us plenty of
notice. We knew democrats would be running. They filed, long before
Tuesday. In a 57% McCain and 65% Bush municipality, we're giving two
seats to the dems. They are tripling their representation in this
county, before we even have the general election.

We couldn't get people to run in those areas? One of their residents is
running against an incumbent at a higher office, but not the two
democrats taking over his township. I wasn't too happy about that.

I'm still mad about that. LCGOP leadership (for the record, I'm not on LCGOP EC, but 8th District) should not have allowed that to happen. Because this did happen, we lost these two seats before any contest began. In Howell Township, John Doe could win as an R with just a name on the ballot.

The Howell Township Board of Trustees has Democratic Party members
for the first time in more than five decades — a sign the party has a
growing influence in Livingston County, said Judy Daubenmier, county
Democratic Party chairwoman.
On Nov. 6, township voters elected Democrats Lois Kanniainen and Mike Tipton as two of the board's four trustees.
The
Democrats' victories were inevitable — four people ran for the four
trustee seats — but were a step toward dispelling "some of the mystique"
of county Democrats, Daubenmier said.

Again, this happened because our local party allowed it to happen. 1958. To give an idea how long ago that is, it is the year after the Detroit Lions were NFL Champions. This is basic organization 101.

There's more.

"I think it will give us some people that we can highlight and talk about, and people can see what they do," Daubenmier said.
"We're
just really, really pleased that Lois and Mike stepped forward. They
were willing to step forward, and it's a township that faces some
difficult problems right now, and they're ready to lead," she added.

Judy Daubenmier has every reason to gloat. While our local party dropped the ball, the dems took advantage of the opening. They won 1420 to 0 and 1327 to 0. It was a shutout. Now we have to hope they don't disguise their leftism enough to become viable candidates for higher office.

This can not happen again. Party leadership will be chosen soon. While there is lots of talk about who is the "constitutionalist" conservative or is the "true" conservative, the first two words in Livingston County Republican Party are "Livingston County." We need to make sure our local races are not neglected and that the big picture is seen. There are three people running for chair. One's the current party secretary and was a liaison to most factions and has been active locally since 06 (was active in Washtenaw previously), one's a relative newcomer (active since 09) likely backed by the outgoing chair, and I am the other. I may win. I may lose. I can see it going either way. I personally get along with the other two running, and am running on the issues. I've worked well with the current secretary as a district member, and IMO the Howell Township candidate recruitment troubles was not on him. The newcomer has been active, along with the secretary and myself at the groundwork events needed this last campaign.

Believe it or
not, some factions are trying to right-flank me. That's hard to believe for some, but it's not that surprising these days. That's partly
because I've been involved in the party for 11 years and don't talk about how I'm the true conservative all the time like I did in the old days. Talk is cheap. All the readers here know where I stand and that's not going to change. I'm hardly a liberal. I was on the Mike Pence for President bandwagon since 2006 with my fiscal views. Still am. I can't hide my views if I tried.

While I, along with the rest of the people running, consider ourselves to be a "true conservative", the job of Chair and EC members isn't to be the "true conservative." That in and of itself doesn't qualify any of us three for anything at all. Our job is to be able to get Republicans of all views including (not excluding) the "true conservatives" elected in the general election at all levels of government. That is how to advance the conservative movement. Conservatives don't magically win elections. It takes organization, campaign experience, data reading, hard work, planning, execution, tactics, time management, volunteer's time management, good staffing, messaging (watch the mouth), and money. That's just what we can control. It also takes what we can't control. Votes. Organization, execution, tactics, and time management was lacking last election (and pre-election). That needs to change.

As I just said, our job is to be able to get Republicans of all views including (not excluding) the "true conservatives"
elected in the general election at all levels of
government. That includes those who aren't necessarily my favorite. The job is for Republican leadership to have a strong enough showing in Livingston County to win statewide. We can not neglect our nominees, whether they be from the tea party wing, establishment win, moderate wing, old style conservative wing, or libertarian wing. I don't like it when our nominees are abandoned and hung out to dry. That includes conservatives like Tim Walberg and Jack Hoogendyk, center-right candidates like Pete Hoekstra and Mike Bouchard, moderates like John McCain (he DID win the primary in 08) and all points in-between. I can promise that I won't use the chair's power for buddy politics or smashing views which may be critical of some of the people within the party. I will smash coronation (or takeover) attempts (whether I am Chair or not). We have primaries for a reason to vet candidates and to nominate the best candidate on a number of areas (ideology, competence, campaign ability, etc). I understand the critics. I've been a critic myself at times long before the rise
of the Tea Party, and much of that is found in my greatest hits here.

However, what has been neglected the most at the county level in the push for ideology and flash is our meat and potatoes organizational abilities. I don't want to see 1420 and 1327 to 0 again. Proper time management and organization would have prevented that. The August Primary filing deadline isn't a secret. It's in May every two years. Township elections are every four years. We needed to be ready. That wouldn't happen on my watch. While I can't control what a candidate would do, we'd be prepared for abandonment (ie McCain, Rove's mouth until he changed his mind) as well with our own infrastructure if I have any say in the matter.

Livingston County has an advantage that a lot of other counties do not have. While the famous billboards with the "Keep Livingston Republican" slogan due to "Low taxes, highest bond rating" is well known, this is also a safe community to live with good people. That's not an accident. While there are some township exceptions, most of the county is reasonably well run at that level, and very well run at the county level. Our party doesn't brag enough about that to the newcomers here. You want Wayne County to be spread here, vote dem. You want Livingston County to still be well run, support us. It's Republicans which got Livingston County to this point. That's not an accident. That doesn't just happen. As the talk radio saying goes, conservatism works when it is tried. However, repeating that doesn't work. Pointing how how and where it does with real world examples does work.

It's up to precinct delegates and county elected officials to elect the EC. Whether I am deemed worthy to make a comeback to county after my stint at district committee isn't up to me. I'm running the different scenarios and can see a path to win and a path to narrowly lose. The county elected officials all know me and at least one of the other people running. I know many, but not all of the precinct delegates. I do hope that precinct delegates reading this think carefully about the people selected and consider past performance, organizational ability, tactics, planning, competence, and execution, as well as the obvious of ideology. Our goals aren't to get our buddies the important titles, but to pick the best Republican leadership so Livingston County can sweep the county, and also carry the rest of the state past the finish line. I don't need the title for glory sake or to be the supposed big fish (ain't that big) in a small pond. I have a good party title already with district that I'm probably assured of keeping. A lot of the big names already know me. After 11 1/2 years, that tends to happen. I'm also well aware that those who believe their own press clipping tend to fall from grace rather quickly. I've seen it happen more times than I can count and was on the receiving end of that in another group in 02. The guy who was the big power that went against us is now practically a nobody as well these days. We aren't that big. The smart ones understand that.

Party leadership is an important decision, and one with two years of ramifications. We need to make 18 wise decisions for executive committee and then the executive committee needs to make wise decisions for party officers including chair. The decisions we need to decide isn't who is the most 'true conservative' but who can help get the Republicans - including true conservatives - elected in a difficult general election campaign statewide (or 8th District if Mike runs for Senate). Livingston County will need to carry extra weight due to some of the other counties.

It's our party. Here's our chance. We need to make sure locally that what happened in Howell Township doesn't happen again. We need to make sure that Michigan is a swing state in statewide elections again and do our part both locally, district wide, and statewide.

Sunday, December 02, 2012

There was a lot of talk about reforming some of Michigan's gun laws. Snyder (and Michigan State Police) was behind the scenes pushing back against a lot of it. He's not a real friend of gun owners, although he's not Gretchen Whitmer or Joe Schwarz on this issue either from what I hear. Probably similar to Granholm or Engler who won't oppose it if it is politically expedient. Granholm was awful as AG on this issue (tied too much with Duggan), not bad on this issue as governor (thanks to Cherry), and now back to her AG views with her talk show (ie Stand your ground comments after she signed a similar bill in MI). I was hoping to get rid of registration/licensing completely. That didn't happen.

I was hoping this would go further than it did. It's still much more good than bad. The two bads are the OC loophole in CEZ's by CPL holders is officially closed, and hearing notices are now first class mail instead of certified. The rest are improvements, including exemptions for "special" CPLS (rather repeal completely), and sheriffs doing all the gun board work (rather be gone completely, but it's better). This reminds me a bit of the original CPL bill. Some good steps, but it isn't perfect.

LANSING, MI - County concealed weapons licensing boards would be
eliminated and sheriffs would take over their duties under a bill
approved Thursday by the Michigan Senate.
The legislation
– passed 27-11 in the Republican-led chamber – next goes to the
Republican-led House for its consideration in the final weeks of the
2011-12 legislative session.
Some of the changes contained in the proposal, according to an analysis provided by Republicans:
• Concealed carry permit holders who get additional, enhanced
training beyond basic requirements and spend more time at the gun range
would be allowed to carry concealed in so-called “gun free” zones such
as schools and churches. The pistol-free zones would remain in effect
for others. “Open carry” in those zones would be prohibited.
• County concealed weapons licensing boards would be eliminated, and
county sheriffs would assume their duties. County clerks and state
police would continue to have roles in the process. Sheriffs would
continue to consult with prosecutors and police on applicants.
• A license decision would have to be made within 45 days of
application – one of the provisions aimed at streamlining the permit
process.

Some of it I like. Some of it I wish goes further. I like the boards being eliminated period with the police out out of the equation completely (sorry Murph), but I'd much rather have the sheriffs there than the prosecutors and especially MSP. MSP out of the equation is a huge win and reduces gamesmanship. They are no friends of freedom.

One of the best aspects of this bill is that an applicant may no longer be required to meet with the sheriff's rep (formerly board) unless the sheriff's dept believes the applicant may not be qualified for a CPL. That's eliminates a major inconvenience in some counties.

The bill prohibited licensing authorities from requiring other documents (Doctor's notes were a problem in Kent County) and extra fees outside what is legislated.

Stalling by counties on fingerprints does not affect the 45 day window for temporary licenses.

An exemption is required allowing CPL holders to carry in some CEZ's (criminal empowerment zones). Exemption requests that are denied can be appealed.

The training now requires firing at least 98 rounds of ammo, not 30.

The new exemption covers this:

k)
An individual who applies for and is granted an exemption

from
this section by the licensing authority. An individual is

eligible
for an exemption from this section only if the individual

requests
an exemption on his or her license application and 1 or

more
of the following apply:

(i) The individual is a licensee or is applying
for an initial

or
renewal license or an exemption under this subdivision who

provides
a certificate indicating on its face that the individual

has
completed not less than 8 hours of training in addition to the

training
required under sections 5b(7)(c) and 5j that satisfies all

of
the following conditions:

(A)
It includes both classroom and range time.

(B)
It includes the firing of not fewer than an additional 94

rounds.

(C)
It focuses on the training principles described in section

5b(7)(c)
as they apply to public places and premises listed in

subsection
(1) as limited under subsection (5).

(D)
It is provided by an agency of this state or by a national

or
state firearms training organization.

(E)
The training instructor is certified as a firearms

instructor
by this state or by a national or state firearms

training
organization and is eligible under section 5j to provide

training
under section 5b(7)(c).

(F)
The training is completed not more than 5 years

immediately
preceding the date of application for an original or

renewal
license or an exemption under this subdivision.

(ii) The individual is certified as a firearms
instructor by

this
state or by a national or state firearms training

organization,
and is eligible under section 5j to provide training

under
section 5b(7)(c). It is prima facie evidence that the

individual
is eligible for an exemption under this subparagraph if

the
individual possesses a certificate as a firearms instructor

issued
by this state or by a national or state firearms training

organization
that meets the requirements of section 5j.

(6)
The licensing authority may delegate the responsibility

for
issuing or denying issuance of an exemption under subsection

(5)(k)
to the clerk of the licensing authority for current

licensees
only.

(7)
The licensing authority or the clerk under subsection (6),

as
applicable, shall within 10 days after receiving an application

for
an exemption, either issue or deny issuance of the exemption

and
send by first-class mail in a sealed envelope a replacement

license
to the applicant with the exemption indorsement or, if the

exemption
is denied, a notice of denial. If the exemption is

denied,
the notice of denial shall specifically state the statutory

authority
for the denial. Nothing in this subsection prohibits the

licensing
authority or the clerk, as applicable, from making a

determination
regarding the exemption at the time the application

is
submitted and immediately either issuing a replacement license

to
the applicant that contains the exemption indorsement or denying

the
exemption and immediately providing the written notice of the

denial,
including the statement of the statutory authority for the

denial,
to the applicant.

(8)
If the licensing authority delegates the responsibility

for
issuing or denying issuance of an exemption under section 5o to

the
clerk of the licensing authority, the entire fee paid for the

exemption
and the replacement license shall be deposited in the

concealed
pistol licensing fund and credited to the account

established
for the clerk of the licensing authority.

(9)
If the applicant is licensed under this act to carry a

concealed
pistol at the time he or she is granted an exemption

under
section 5o, the applicant shall
surrender his or her license

to
the licensing authority by mail or in person immediately upon

receiving
his or her replacement license containing the exemption

indorsement.

(10)
An individual licensed under this act to carry a

concealed
pistol, or who is exempt from licensure under section

12a(1)(h),
shall not intentionally display or openly carry a pistol

on
the premises listed in subsection (1)(a) to (h) unless the

individual
owns the premises described in subsection (1) or is

employed
or contracted by the owner or other person with control

over
the premises described in subsection (1), if the possession of

the
firearm is to provide security services for the premises or is

otherwise
in the scope of the individual's official duties, or the

individual
is acting with the express written consent of the ownerof
the premises or an agent of the owner of the premis

Why does this always have to be so convoluted? I need to give Mike Green's office a call and see what is defined as a "state or national firearms training organization." At first glance, my gut tells me likely NRA, as they are the usual standard, but I'd like to rely on more than that. What is going to piss off some people is the subtle open carry ban by cpl holders in those CEZ's. Depending on some technicalities, one is possibly allowed to open carry in some cez's if that individual is a cpl holder. This is no longer the case without the exemption. Violations of carrying in criminal empowerment zones are the same. Civil infraction and CPL suspension for 1st offense. Misdeamenor and revoke for 2nd offense. Felony for 3rd offense and CPL revoked.

I don't like at all the certified mail being replaced by first class mail for hearing notices. I don't trust first class mail very much unless it's certified.

There's added projection for the "village idiot" clause. If there is "clear and present" danger, an applicant or CPL holder is a danger to the public, the applicant is entitled to legal council at the hearing to help make sure this actually is the case and not gamesmanship.

Interestingly, the Michigan Senate on guns is probably more partisan now than ever. Part of that is probably 2010 election results by location.

Anderson's vote surprised me a little. The rest did not. Gleason's the lone dem voting for this bill. Back in the original CPL days, about 1/3 of the dems supported it and 1/4 of the republicans opposed. Now no republicans opposed it, and only one dem supported it. It'll be interesting to see what the house does.